White House Creates Solar Initiative

The White House announced a new partnership with the Department of Energy that increases the availability of solar power to low-income Americans. Nearly 645,000 American homes and businesses have gone solar as of 2014 and the costs of solar power have fallen 45% since 2010 for residential customers.

The National Community Solar Partnership will enable those who rent their homes or don’t have a suitable roof to reap the benefits of solar and receive credit on their utility bills. The partnership, which also includes the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Agriculture will build off of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Guide to Community Shared Solar, which provides a framework for the development of this model for solar deployment in communities, and provide technical assistance to make it easier to install solar.